I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 787 To amend the SOAR Act. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 24, 2019 Mr. WALKER (for himself, Ms. FOXX of North Carolina, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. BANKS, Mr. POSEY, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. MOONEY of West Virginia, Mr. RATCLIFFE, Mr. PALMER, Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. GROTHMAN, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. MITCHELL, and Mr. HUNTER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To amend the SOAR Act. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘SOAR Reauthorization 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE SOAR ACT. 6 (a) AMENDMENTS TO SOAR.—The Scholarships for 7 Opportunity and Results Act (division C of Public Law 8 112–10) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H787.IH H787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 787 IH (1) in section 3007 (sec. 38–1853.07 D.C. Offi- 1 cial Code)— 2 (A) by striking subsection (c) and redesig- 3 nating subsection (d) as subsection (c); 4 (B) in subsection (a)(5)(A)(i)— 5 (i) by striking subclause (I) and in- 6 serting the following: 7 ‘‘(I) is fully accredited by— 8 ‘‘(aa) an accrediting body 9 with jurisdiction in the District 10 of Columbia and that is recog- 11 nized by the Student and Visitor 12 Exchange English Language Pro- 13 gram administered by the U.S. 14 Immigration and Customs En- 15 forcement; or 16 ‘‘(bb) any international ac- 17 crediting body that the Secretary 18 may designate, after consultation 19 with the grantee or grantees 20 under section 3004(a); or’’; and 21 (ii) in subclause (II), by striking ‘‘the 22 date of enactment of the Consolidated Ap- 23 propriations Act, 2016 (Public Law 114– 24 113),’’ and inserting ‘‘the date of enact- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H787.IH H787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 787 IH ment of the SOAR Reauthorization Act of 1 2019,’’; 2 (C) in subsection (b)— 3 (i) in the subsection heading, by strik- 4 ing ‘‘AND PARENTAL ASSISTANCE’’ and in- 5 serting ‘‘, PARENTAL ASSISTANCE, AND 6 STUDENT ACADEMIC ASSISTANCE’’; 7 (ii) in the matter preceding clause (i), 8 by striking ‘‘$2,000,000’’ and inserting 9 ‘‘$2,200,000’’; and 10 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 11 lowing: 12 ‘‘(3) The expenses of providing tutoring service 13 to participating eligible students that need additional 14 academic assistance. If there are insufficient funds 15 to provide tutoring services to all such students in 16 a year, the eligible entity shall give priority in such 17 year to students who previously attended an elemen- 18 tary school or secondary school identified as one of 19 the lowest-performing schools under the District of 20 Columbia’s accountability system.’’; and 21 (D) in subsection (c), as redesignated by 22 subparagraph (A)— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H787.IH H787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 787 IH (i) in paragraph (2)(B), by striking 1 ‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting 2 ‘‘subsection (b)’’; and 3 (ii) in paragraph (3), by striking 4 ‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’ and inserting 5 ‘‘subsection (b)’’; 6 (2) in section 3008(h) (sec. 38–1853.08 D.C. 7 Official Code)— 8 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘section 9 3009(a)(2)(A)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 10 3009(a)’’; 11 (B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert- 12 ing the following: 13 ‘‘(2) The Institute of Education Sciences may 14 administer assessments to students participating in 15 the evaluation under section 3009(a) for the purpose 16 of conducting the evaluation under such section.’’; 17 and 18 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘the na- 19 tionally norm-referenced standardized test de- 20 scribed in paragraph (2)’’ and inserting ‘‘a na- 21 tionally norm-referenced standardized test’’; 22 (3) in section 3009(a) (sec. 38–1853.09 D.C. 23 Official Code)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H787.IH H787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 787 IH (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘an- 1 nually’’; 2 (B) in paragraph (2)— 3 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 4 clause (i) and inserting the following: 5 ‘‘(i) is rigorous; and’’; and 6 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 7 ‘‘impact of the program’’ and all that fol- 8 lows through the end of the subparagraph 9 and inserting ‘‘impact of the program on 10 academic achievement and educational at- 11 tainment.’’; 12 (C) in paragraph (3)— 13 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik- 14 ing ‘‘ON EDUCATION’’ and inserting ‘‘OF 15 EDUCATION’’; 16 (ii) in subparagraph (A)— 17 (I) by inserting ‘‘the academic 18 progress of’’ after ‘‘assess’’; and 19 (II) by striking ‘‘in each of 20 grades 3’’ and all that follows through 21 the end of the subparagraph and in- 22 serting ‘‘; and’’; 23 (iii) by striking subparagraph (B); 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H787.IH H787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 787 IH (iv) by redesignating subparagraph 1 (C) as subparagraph (B); and 2 (D) in paragraph (4)— 3 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 4 ‘‘A comparison of the academic achieve- 5 ment of participating eligible students who 6 use an opportunity scholarship on the 7 measurements described in paragraph 8 (3)(B) to the academic achievement’’ and 9 inserting ‘‘The academic progress of par- 10 ticipating eligible students who use an op- 11 portunity scholarship compared to the aca- 12 demic progress’’; 13 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 14 ‘‘increasing the satisfaction of such parents 15 and students with their choice’’ and insert- 16 ing ‘‘those parents’ and students’ satisfac- 17 tion with the program’’; and 18 (iii) by striking subparagraph (D) 19 through (F) and inserting the following: 20 ‘‘(D) The high school graduation rates, 21 college enrollment rates, college persistence 22 rates, and college graduation rates of partici- 23 pating eligible students who use an opportunity 24 scholarship compared with the rates of public 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H787.IH H787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 787 IH school students described in subparagraph (A), 1 to the extent practicable. 2 ‘‘(E) The college enrollment rates, college 3 persistence rates, and college graduation rates 4 of students who participated in the program as 5 the result of winning the Opportunity Scholar- 6 ship Program lottery compared to the enroll- 7 ment, persistence, and graduation rates for stu- 8 dents who entered but did not win such lottery 9 and who, as a result, served as the control 10 group for previous evaluations of the program 11 under this division. Nothing in this subpara- 12 graph may be construed to waive section 13 3004(a)(3)(A)(iii) with respect to any such stu- 14 dent. 15 ‘‘(F) The safety of the schools attended by 16 participating eligible students who use an op- 17 portunity scholarship compared with the schools 18 in the District of Columbia attended by public 19 school students described in subparagraph (A), 20 to the extent practicable.’’; and 21 (4) in section 3014(a) (sec. 38–1853.14, D.C. 22 Official Code), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 2019’’ and 23 inserting ‘‘fiscal year 2024’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H787.IH H787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 787 IH (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 subsection (a) shall take effect on September 30, 2019. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Feb 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H787.IH H787 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS